A group of us from the Chip and Co site decided to get together and take a trip to Raleigh North Carolina to see Alice in Wonderland in IMAX 3D. Jon, Anne’, my wife and I ordered our tickets for Saturday afternoon at 1pm and decided to drive a hour and a half to see Tim Burton’s film up on the IMAX Dome instead of a normal theater.
We left that morning 3 hours early so we could have a quick lunch at one of my favorite restaurants from back home in Florida – Sweet Tomatoes. Soup, Salad, Pasta, and more..Mmm Mmm.
Lunch was great as always and Jon & Anne’ never been before and I know they will be back again. At this point we are running about 15 minutes late, and as always the traffic in Raleigh is horrible. We are hurrying the best we can to get to the Children’s Museum. As we approach the downtown area and Jon’s Droid phone is telling us to go straight we see a sea of Green just a few blocks over with Police everywhere. Come to find out they are having a St Patrick’s Day Parade on the street of the museum and the park directly across the street is full of people drinking and having a good time.
One of the Police officers inform us were going to have to do about 20 blocks south, go east by 4 blocks then 20 blocks north just to get past the parade. It is now 1:15pm ugh!!! Thanks to Jon (Andretti) and my quick navigational skills we get past the traffic only to run into the next dilemma. Parking…! or lack there of..
Needless to say that takes another 15 minutes and we make a mad dash for the theater. So now were 35 minutes late and apparently they only had 5 minutes of previews and we have missed 30 minutes of the film. We ask to get into the next show and the manager tells us they are sold out all weekend..What????
He said we were going to have to come back next weekend…So we exchange our tickets for next Friday night and decide to see what all the commotion is about and go check out the St Patrick’s Festival. My wife is Scottish, Irish, and French and I am Italian so she is at home with all her kin folk and I stick out like a sore thumb 🙂
I think we were the only people not wearing green.
I love some good Piper Music!
So after hanging out at the parade/party for a hour we decide to make a pilgrimage to the closest thing to Disney we can think of. The Disney Store!
The store was packed!
First we stopped by the Lego Store cause who can resists some Lego Fun? I took pictures of the Toy Story Lego’s they had on display(check them out below). I have never seen a Lego store before and it was the coolest thing ever! I wish they would have had one of these when I was growing up.
That is one cute Chip 🙂
After checking the Lego store out it is time to pay our respects to Mickey and Friends 🙂 Disney had Princess Tiana front and center when you walk in. As always the place is packed! We decide to get a few things for our Disney Princess for Easter and she is starting to outgrow some of her clothes that we bought for her at the Myrtle Beach Disney Store. We find some good deals and comment that it wasn’t a total waste of a trip.
Overall we were able to take a bad situation and turn it into a fun Disney adventure. We will be making our way back to Raleigh this Friday and possibly hook up with Chris from Everything WDW for some dinner or she might join us for the movie. So I would expect our movie review sometime over the weekend.
Let us know what you thought of the movie in the comment section below.
Let our friends at Destinations to Travel help you book your next Disney Vacation. They are the preferred Travel Agency of Chip and Company and Disney Addicts, and who we use ourselves.
Get started below for your FREE No Obligation Quote.
Book With our friends at Destinations to Travel
For the BEST in Disney, Universal, Dollywood, and SeaWorld Theme Park News, Entertainment, Merchandise & More follow us on, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. Don't forget to check out the Chip and Company Radio Network too!
At least you had a good meal! Looking forward to hearing what you think of the film this weekend!
At least you had a good meal! Looking forward to hearing what you think of the film this weekend!
Aw, what a bummer! But what a way to turn it into a fun trip. Love the pictures! I could spend hours in the Disney Store I think.
I loved Alice in Wonderland and so did my entire family. I saw it with a 12, 10 and 6 year old, plus my husband and everyone was pleased with it. Hope you get to see it soon!
Hey, sounds like you had a good time anyway. I love that Disney store. So funny that you all got a break from the kid and the first thing you do–go buy her stuff! Good deal.
I'll try to meet up with you guys.